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Updated: Apr 5, 2026

Author Spotlight: Analysis of Fluorescent-Stained Lipid Droplets with 3D Reconstruction for Hepatic Steatosis Assessment
Published on: June 2, 2023
Structure, Function and Metabolism of Hepatic and Adipose Tissue Lipid Droplets: Implications in Alcoholic Liver
Sathish Kumar Natarajan1, Karuna Rasineni1, Murali Ganesan1
1Research Service, VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System (VA NWIHCS). 0.
Abstract:
For more than 30 years, lipid droplets (LDs) were considered as an inert bag of lipid for storage of energy-rich fat molecules. Following a paradigm shift almost a decade ago, LDs are presently considered an active subcellular organelle especially designed for assembling, storing and subsequently supplying lipids for generating energy and membrane synthesis (and in the case of hepatocytes for VLDL secretion). LDs also play a central role in many other cellular functions such as viral assembly and protein degradation. Here, we have explored the structural and functional changes that occur in hepatic and adipose tissue LDs following chronic ethanol consumption in relation to their role in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver injury.
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